Computer Hardware Design Engineer

Sealevel Systems•Liberty, SC

About The Position

Sealevel Systems, Inc., is an industrial computer design and manufacturing company, providing rugged and reliable computing and I/O solutions to customers since 1986. Our story began with serial communication innovations and continues with I/O interfaces and cutting-edge industrial computers – engineered and manufactured at our headquarters in Liberty, South Carolina. The company is seeking a Hardware Design Engineer for the Engineering Department with a particular focus on high-end computing chip-down design of x86 and ARM CPUs. This position will develop next generation industrial computing and input/output products for a wide range of applications. As part of the Sealevel Engineering Team, you will design leading edge solutions for off-the-shelf standard products and custom, ruggedized systems for use in industrial, defense, energy, transportation, public safety, and other critical industries.

Requirements

Organized, detail oriented and self-motivated.
Must have real world design experience with x86 CPU (Intel preferred, AMD also helpful) and system designs.
Must have strong grasp and knowledge of UEFI BIOS, Embedded Controllers and other embedded firmware commonly used and critical to x86 embedded system operation.
Design experience with common computer expansion buses including: PCI Express GEN1-GEN4 PCIe Expansion Cards PCIe/NVMe based solid state drives
Design experience with common embedded communication busses and devices including, but not limited to: I2C, I3C, SPI, I2S, HDA
Ethernet standards, including, but not limited to: 10/100/1000Base-T 10GbE, (including 10GBase-T, 10GBase-KR, XFI, XAUI, SERDES) SFP+ Fiber Optic Transceiver modules and Direct Attach Cables
Solid working knowledge of: legacy expansion interfaces like PCI, ISA, IDE, LPC, etc.
USB downstream and upstream ports USB2.0 (Low Speed, Full Speed, High Speed) USB3.1/3.2 up to GEN2 Speeds.
SATA Disk Drive Interface designing and debugging
low voltage (0-50V input), high performance, high efficiency DC-DC power supplies using discrete components and integrated modules
high-speed oscilloscopes (including digital serial analyzers), multi-meters, logic analyzers, network analyzers, and other common lab tools
Design experience with common computer expansion buses including: PCI Express GEN1-GEN4 PCIe Expansion Cards PCIe/NVMe based solid state drives
Strong familiarity with high-speed digital design principles to ensure good signal integrity, high compatibility, and high reliability of product designs.
Strong familiarity with embedded MCUs and FPGA devices is beneficial.
Design experience with common computer expansion buses including: PCI Express GEN1-GEN4 PCIe Expansion Cards PCIe/NVMe based solid state drives
Comfortable and able to operate in a rapidly growing environment
Excellent written and oral communication skills
Proven ability to work independently and as part of a team
Bachelor’s degree in computer or electrical engineering
Minimum 4-5 years of experience in a similar environment or setting.
High-speed circuit design for interface to Intel x86 processors and embedded microcontrollers (MCUs)
ECAD tools
Circuit simulation software (Spice, Ansys, etc.)
PC skills in MS Office (Outlook, Excel, Word)
Strong oral and written communication skills.

Nice To Haves

NetSuite experience
Extensive experience with Altium Designer
Flexibility to perform various tasks, as well as quick learning aptitude.

Responsibilities

Participate in all aspects of new product development including product definition, cost estimation, schematic design, prototype implementation, and validation testing.
Work closely with management to define project requirements and schedule
Oversee cost analysis for new products to achieve defined goals
Manage changes to the project scope, project schedule, and project cost
Perform component research and selection.
Establish and maintain relationships with component vendors and FAEs
Participate in peer reviews of schematics, PCB designs, cables, mechanical packaging, and specification compliance.
Work closely with firmware and software engineers to define and develop embedded firmware and software to support designs.
Work closely with test engineers to test and debug prototype designs, integrate and test with Windows, Linux and other embedded OS and software as needed.
Work closely with test engineers to ensure proper function and performance of products is achieved.
Aid in the resolution of hardware/software compatibility issues.
Collaborate with manufacturing to ensure a smooth transition from design to production
Assist the Technical Support Department in resolving customer and product issues.
Conduct research and get acquainted with innovative technologies as needed for implementation in product design
Other duties as assigned by the Director of Engineering.